Prior art camera flash units that are integral to cameras have a flash light source 6, a reflector 3, and a refractive lens element 8 (see FIG. 1) to direct light rays generated by the flash light source towards a target surface. Such a flash unit is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,192. In conventional camera flash units of the above described type, the reflector has a cup like cross-section that is approximately 7 to 10 millimeters deep. The distance between the light source 6 and the refractive lens element 8 is about 4 millimeters.
There exists a strong demand for compact cameras. Compact cameras require smaller camera flash units than the prior art camera flash units.